A 'Conservative' British PM has appointed a Minister for Loneliness?

[Burney]

opportunity to "tear her apart".

It was a grotesque miss-match, not just of intellect, but of intention, and was never going to go anywhere interesting. A pien pensant and one of the world's great thinkers simply talking past each other.

I found it totally cringe-inducing, to be honest.

Well it was more watching her wither in the sheer glare of his intelligence and fall apart, I suppose. Nonetheless, I felt it was a salutary lesson in the intellectual vacuum at the heart of so many left-wing certainties. You could have put someone far cleverer than Cathy Newman in to champion those ideas and the result would have been the same because the ideas don't stand up to intellectual scrutiny.

And just because it's a mismatch doesn't mean it's not worth doing. The important thing is that these ideas - which are considered unquestionable truths in bien-pensant circles (transgenderism, limits on free speech to avoid 'offence'; the gender pay gap, etc) actually got put to the test by a brilliant analytic intelligence in a public forum and were found wanting. It is vitally important that this happens more.

[redgunamo]

Well it was more watching her wither in the sheer glare of his intelligence and fall apart, I suppose. Nonetheless, I felt it was a salutary lesson in the intellectual vacuum at the heart of so many left-wing certainties. You could have put someone far cleverer than Cathy Newman in to champion those ideas and the result would have been the same because the ideas don't stand up to intellectual scrutiny.

And just because it's a mismatch doesn't mean it's not worth doing. The important thing is that these ideas - which are considered unquestionable truths in bien-pensant circles (transgenderism, limits on free speech to avoid 'offence'; the gender pay gap, etc) actually got put to the test by a brilliant analytic intelligence in a public forum and were found wanting. It is vitally important that this happens more.

I see what you mean, but are the people who need to hear it actually listening?

[Burney]

I see what you mean, but are the people who need to hear it actually listening?

Probably not. In fact it probably means that as we speak, the producer of Newsnight is busily crossing Jordan Peterson off their list of prospective guests because they know he'll make them look bad.

[redgunamo]

Probably not. In fact it probably means that as we speak, the producer of Newsnight is busily crossing Jordan Peterson off their list of prospective guests because they know he'll make them look bad.

Yes. Still, that's what social media was invented for, I guess.

[Monty92]

Well it was more watching her wither in the sheer glare of his intelligence and fall apart, I suppose. Nonetheless, I felt it was a salutary lesson in the intellectual vacuum at the heart of so many left-wing certainties. You could have put someone far cleverer than Cathy Newman in to champion those ideas and the result would have been the same because the ideas don't stand up to intellectual scrutiny.

And just because it's a mismatch doesn't mean it's not worth doing. The important thing is that these ideas - which are considered unquestionable truths in bien-pensant circles (transgenderism, limits on free speech to avoid 'offence'; the gender pay gap, etc) actually got put to the test by a brilliant analytic intelligence in a public forum and were found wanting. It is vitally important that this happens more.

Hmmmm! Sadly I think replacing Newman with a broadcaster from the right would have made little difference. I don't necessarily see the fault lines in political terms. More about an openness to ideas, or lack thereof. And that is a problem on the left and the right.

John Snow is a fúcking ****, though. Did you hear him at the end? Bemoaning the fact that the interview went on for so long, presumably because it bored him. Imagine that? Channel 4 lands an interview with one of the world's greatest living thinkers, and the anchor - one of the doyens of British political broadcasting - says it bored him.

That is what I found depressing.

[Burney]

Hmmmm! Sadly I think replacing Newman with a broadcaster from the right would have made little difference. I don't necessarily see the fault lines in political terms. More about an openness to ideas, or lack thereof. And that is a problem on the left and the right.

John Snow is a fúcking ****, though. Did you hear him at the end? Bemoaning the fact that the interview went on for so long, presumably because it bored him. Imagine that? Channel 4 lands an interview with one of the world's greatest living thinkers, and the anchor - one of the doyens of British political broadcasting - says it bored him.

That is what I found depressing.

To be honest, I found it refreshing to hear ideas properly explored at all in that context. I do wonder, however, if Newman had actually researched Peterson at all. She seemed to go into it thinking he was just some alt-right knucklehead she could sneer at and make look bad. Her desperate floundering, recourse to repetition of platitudes and misattributing quotes to him suggested she had no idea what she was dealing with before she started.

Jon Snow being a cünt is hardly news. He's a hard-left relic who is well overdue for retirement.

[Monty92]

To be honest, I found it refreshing to hear ideas properly explored at all in that context. I do wonder, however, if Newman had actually researched Peterson at all. She seemed to go into it thinking he was just some alt-right knucklehead she could sneer at and make look bad. Her desperate floundering, recourse to repetition of platitudes and misattributing quotes to him suggested she had no idea what she was dealing with before she started.

Jon Snow being a cünt is hardly news. He's a hard-left relic who is well overdue for retirement.

But Newman is the type that DOES believe that anyone who questions leftist wisdom is alt-right. So, I can quite imagine that she did research him and came to that very conclusion.

This of course is also hugely depressing.

[Burney]

But Newman is the type that DOES believe that anyone who questions leftist wisdom is alt-right. So, I can quite imagine that she did research him and came to that very conclusion.

This of course is also hugely depressing.

Yes, but she got torn a new think-hole. One would like to think that might make her question a few things.

I think that my favourite bit was when she said to him 'What gives you the right to make these generalisations?' and he said 'I'm a clinical psychologist.'

I very nearly spat my unsweetened black coffee over screen at that point.

[redgunamo]

Yes, but she got torn a new think-hole. One would like to think that might make her question a few things.

I think that my favourite bit was when she said to him 'What gives you the right to make these generalisations?' and he said 'I'm a clinical psychologist.'

I very nearly spat my unsweetened black coffee over screen at that point.

Very good. But surely the point here is that there isn't actually that much thinking going on, because if there was, we wouldn't be where we are. And, whatsmore, there never will be any thinking done either.